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British make the Relay their own

May 25 2012, 1:01am, The Times

Crowds with Union flags line the streets of GloucesterTimes photographer, Mary Turner

With no obvious “media moments” between Gloucester and the Severn Valley steam railway, I decided to simply drive the route ahead of the convoy yesterday morning to see how the 13 official stops before Bewdley were planning to greet it.

The logistic challenges of covering this event in a private car (there is no bus for jobbing journalists) include racing around the countryside at breakneck speed to stay ahead of the caravan or parking up in one town and waiting for it to come through. Either way, you don’t get the sense of a slow-moving story.

I had previously hitched a ride on the roof of a sponsor’s bus, but I wanted to see it from ground level without the background of their repetitive soundtrack —…